Chris Pirillo » lego

My Teeth are Yellow and Falling Out

Chris — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:25:48 +0000

My Teeth are Yellow and Falling Out is a post from Chris Pirillo

Okay, so I’m a bit of a LEGO maniac. So is Johnny:

LEGO AT-AT Fun

Chris — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:24:16 +0000

LEGO AT-AT Fun is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The LEGO AT-AT is the All-Terrain Armored Transport, seen in Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back. This is actually my third major LEGO build. The first was the Star Destroyer, which was given to me by a friend. The second was the Death Star, which friends helped me build a few months ago on my birthday. The coolest thing about the AT-AT is that it is motorized! Just flip a switch and watch it take off across your room. I happen to think it’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen all year. I’m just not so sure that Pixie would agree.

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LEGO Dad

Chris — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:04:31 +0000

LEGO Dad is a post from Chris Pirillo

My dad rules.

My Birthday Present: Building the LEGO Death Star

Chris — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:31:58 +0000

My Birthday Present: Building the LEGO Death Star is a post from Chris Pirillo

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About a year ago, I bought myself a LEGO Death Star. I never have put it together, since I know it’s going to be a huge undertaking for any one person alone. I decided to invite a few friends over to help me build it for my birthday this year!

It’s a 3800-piece Special Edition kit, and I never even opened the box. I did do the unboxing for you all on the camera, so I’m sure you’ll want to check that out.

Mona is one of the friends helping me with this build, and was also the one who was holding the camera for this particular video. She doesn’t really care so much about the Death Star. She’s interested in the Minifigs. She has this odd obsession with Chewie, and her reaction to looking at the Minifigs on the box was a hearty: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG (you get the drift). They’re cute, I suppose. But I’m a guy. I’m into the Death Star itself – and the Darth Vader Minifig, of course.

I originally uploaded this video to YouTube the day before my birthday, in the hopes that everyone would join us live to watch us working on building the Death Star. We had well over 1000 people watching at several times throughout the day, and that was great!

Thank you everyone who joined us live on Sunday, and special thanks to all of you who stopped by to help me build!

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LEGO Unboxing

Chris — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:18:00 +0000

LEGO Unboxing is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When was the last time you played with LEGO? What did you build, and did you keep your creation? I bought myself a LEGO Death Star kit for my birthday last year. I never have put it together, because I knew it was a massive undertaking. However, I had friends over for my birthday this year to help me with the build! I know I’m not the only one – do you still build with LEGO?

When I got up this morning, there were over 700 people watching my empty desk! They were waiting with baited breath for me to start unboxing! You might remember when I built the LEGO Star Destroyer that my friend Datalore bought me last year. Sadly, this unboxing isn’t going to be very exciting. There are just instructions and bags of little LEGO parts in there. The excitement will come with the actual building.

There are 3800 pieces in this kit! Holy cow that’s a lot of LEGO Bricks!! I know my friend Mona is excited over the little Chewie figurine, and can’t wait to see it. The manual is huge – it has tons of pictures and pages. I think it’s as tall as me!

Inside of the main box, there were a few smaller boxes. Inside of those boxes are tons of little baggies full of little LEGO bricks! Holy cow the baggies aren’t numbered. I know right now it’s going to take a long time to get this thing built. The Star Destroyer had numbers on the bags, which made it MUCH easier! Argh!

What do you think? How long do you think it will take us to get this thing built?

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Happy Birthday Video

Chris — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:01:54 +0000

Happy Birthday Video is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When is your birthday? Mine was on Sunday, and a I had a few friends over to celebrate. We had some excellent food, great conversation – and tons of fun working on building my LEGO Death Star. What’s your most memorable birthday? What about your ideal birthday? I have to say this was definitely my ideal for a perfect celebration.

I was joined by a few friends for this auspicious occasion. Michelle has done a few game review videos for us recently, so I’m sure you remember her. Mona has been helping me and the rest of the team put things together for Gnomedex. Ellen is another friend who stopped by for a few hours.

And of course, I was lucky to have my friend Traci lead the birthday singing via Skype! Doesn’t she have an amazing voice?!

I won’t be telling all of you what I wished for, because then it won’t come true. Let’s just say… if it does, it’ll be awesome!

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The Gift of LEGO, Star Wars and Games

Chris — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:24:32 +0000

The Gift of LEGO, Star Wars and Games is a post from Chris Pirillo

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A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to go on a shopping spree at Sears, using $500.00. I could do anything I wanted to, and decided to buy toys for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have any this Christmas. Now I have the chance to give one of you some toys, as well.

Many of the toys I found at Sears made me remember my own childhood. I know the kids who will receive the toys Ponzi and I bought would otherwise not have gotten them. I can think of no better way to spread joy than to give things away. Ponzi and I were like kids in a candy store, running through the aisles and checking everything out. We were literally giddy! When we dropped them off at the donation site, the people there were just as excited as we were.

Now IZEA is going to allow me to give you a gift bundle worth $500.00! There are three different bundles you can choose from if you win. You can choose:

LEGO Wonderland – A variety of LEGO toys and books.
Star Wars Smiles – Filled with Star Wars toys and games!
Family Game Night – Several different family board games.

You can enter up to three times! Here’s how:

Leave a comment stating which bundle you want, and why, in Receiving the Gift of Giving. Understand, it’s only on that post where your comments will count. Commenting here isn’t gonna do you much good, unless you really want to leave a comment here for another reason.
Post to your twitter account if you have one, making sure you include – #Sears @chrispirillo http://bit.ly/giftwish – and whichever bundle you desire in your tweet.
Make an entry in your own blog if you have one, making sure you link back to this particular post URL and mentioning which bundle you want (and why). I register most trackbacks after I’ve received at least one click from your permalink to mine.

So there you have it… another giveaway! Good luck to everyone!

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Call for Help Blooper – in LEGO

Chris — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:13:28 +0000

Call for Help Blooper – in LEGO is a post from Chris Pirillo

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LegoShark has done it again. He’s fast becoming a name in the Brickfilming world, and this newest creation is genius. I’m not biased, I promise! Keep your eye out for even more fantastic LEGO content from him!

I’m sure you remember that old Blooper on Call for Help. People talk about it daily in the chat room still, all these years later. I lost it, plain and simple. Something struck me as hilarious… and I couldn’t stop laughing. Hasn’t that ever happened to you?! Seriously. Don’t lie! You know it has!!

Anyhow, LegoShark took that Blooper, and made it into a BrickFilm, using LEGO bricks. Great job, and thank you!

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Would You Like to Build the LEGO Death Star with Me?

Chris — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:11:27 +0000

Would You Like to Build the LEGO Death Star with Me? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I am addicted to LEGO. I have been since I was a kid. I’m also addicted to Star Wars! So, it was a no-brainer that I would rush to buy myself the LEGO Death Star. (LEGO has it on sale right now for $199.99!) However, this thing is just huge, with a bazillion pieces. BrickCon is beginning on October 1st. That’s not very far away. I want to get this built before then. Do you want to help me? There’s no way I could get it ready in time on my own.

If you’re an actual friend of mine, check out my Yahoo Event page. I’m not going to allow just anyone into my home, so make sure you’re someone I actually know. No offense to anyone, but realize that I have to protect my safety, my home and my family.

I’m building the LEGO Death Star. While you’re free to RSVP or watch this event, I will only be inviting a handful of people over to my home to build it with me. The hope is to have ‘er done possibly in time to show it off at Brickcon at the end of the week.
If you’d like to help build this in person with the rest of us, sign up here. I will select and contact the participants manually, so don’t ask. :)
Chances are, I’ll only select locals – because I’m not going to house anybody. It would be helpful if you threw into the kitty for food and beverage throughout the building process, which may go on 24/7 until complete.

So if you qualify, and will be in the area… let me know if you want to hang out and help build the Death Star!

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Do All Geeks Love LEGO?

Chris — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:59:34 +0000

Do All Geeks Love LEGO? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Mona is a regular contributor on FriendFeed, and is quickly racking up posts on our new Geeks site, as well. Spudster is also an active member of the Geeks community… and is an avid LEGO BrickFilmer. Imagine Mona’s surprise when he created a BrickFilm just for her.

We like our bacon extra crispy, Mona!

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Are You Also Addicted to LEGO?

Chris — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:34:17 +0000

Are You Also Addicted to LEGO? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Yep, this is a LEGO Star Destroyer space craft I just finished building. Isn’t it just gorgeous? Datalore gave me this kit as a gift when he visited the US recently for the Gnomedex conference. I was super excited, because I would likely never have bought it for myself. I’ve never even truly had a LEGO kit before. I had some LEGO blocks, sure. But I was such a deprived child. I had a Star Destroyer, but it wasn’t something I built myself.

Build the most awesome ship in the Star Wars universe! The Imperial Star Destroyer is the massively huge, incredibly powerful heart of the Emperor’s fleet. Manned by the top crew in the Imperial Navy, the Star Destroyer was heavily armored and bristling with turbolasers and tractor beam projectors. One Star Destroyer alone was enough to strike fear into an entire star system!
Now you can add the Imperial Navy’s best-known and most powerful ship to your LEGO Star Wars collection! Measuring an impressive 37” by 23”, this model dwarfs any LEGO Star Wars ship ever produced. This beautifully designed and one-of-a-kind collector’s item comes with a special display stand and collectors card. Also includes an exclusive Rebel Blockade Runner Mini-Model, so you can recreate the opening scenes of Star Wars IV: A New Hope!

So I’ve had the kit for about two weeks now, and it was just sitting in my office. I’ve been busy, you know! I was feeling stressed out last night, so I grabbed the box and started building. I worked for hours, until I couldn’t see straight anymore. I slept for awhile… then I was up and at it again. Building this was addictive to me, and almost an obsession to finish it.

I’m very happy with what I created. It’s insanely cool. I didn’t have LEGO Star Wars growing up, because they didn’t even have them. You’re never too old for LEGO bricks, nor too old for Star Wars. Not only did I have fun doing this, it was also a great stress reliever. I think I’ll end up putting it up on top of my hutch, with the back facing out. I mean, really. Isn’t that just a gorgeous rear end on this ship?!

The other reason I bring this up, is that building LEGO kits can honestly be a bonding experience. It’s something good for a parent to do with a child, or even a grandparent with a grandchild. The sense of accomplishment I have right now is just huge. That is something you can share with a child, once you’ve had a great time building it. Spending the time working on a craft project like this can also pave the way to opening conversations you might not otherwise have had.

Why grow up? You’re never too old to indulge your inner child and play.

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Do You Enjoy Brickfilm?

Chris — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:57:23 +0000

Do You Enjoy Brickfilm? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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One of our long-time community members, LegoShark, recently participated in a Brickfilming contest. The goal of this contest was to make a brickfilm, going through the entire process from start to finish, in a week or less. The B.R.A.W.L. (Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long) contest ended on August 9th. Judging of the entries will begin on about August 17th.

The theme of this contest is “Negotiation”. You may interpret the theme any way you want. Your film could be as complex as a crime film about a hostage avoiding death, or it could be as simple as a young child arguing about a punishment with his parents. Any story goes, as long as it fits in with the theme. How well your story relates to the theme will play a part in how the judges score your film in the Story category.
For this contest, there are two mod elements, a color mod and a letter mod. You do not have to use both of them. Just make sure that at least one of them is present in every shot of your film. Camera movements (such as pans and zooms) count as part of a shot, as long as the camera angle of the shot does not change. So if you decide to have a camera movement in your film, the mod element must be clearly visible during at least part of the movement. During a shot, if something temporarily blocks the mod element, you will not be disqualified, as long as the mod element is seen in it’s entirety at least once in the shot. You can use any combination of the mod elements, as long as one is noticeable and visible in every shot.

Rules of the contest were:

Your film must be primarily filmed using stop motion animation. Live action footage, or other forms of animation, such as CGI animation, may be used to supplement your film, but they must not be the main focus.
The film should be made using LEGO or similar construction toys.
There must a minimum of 1 minute of animation in your film (excluding titles or credits). There is no maximum amount.
Joint entries are allowed, as well as multiple entries.
Copyrighted material is allowed, but you must credit the person/group/organization that made it.

I was happy to provide my help to LegoShark, and I hope he wins! We’ll update this post after the judging is complete, to let everyone know how LegoShark did.

Mac vs PC: LEGO Brickfilming

Chris — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:50:46 +0000

Mac vs PC: LEGO Brickfilming is a post from Chris Pirillo

“LegoShark” contacted me last night to ask me what I thought about his hobby:

Hey, I’m an amature Stop- motion animator. I have been looking in your chat for about a month now. I use a medium of stop-motion known as “brickfilming.” This is stop-motion animation with LEGO. I noticed you had some LEGO fan pics of your office in your Fickr stream, so i thought i might a well bring this up. I was wondering if you could possibly spread the word a little bit about brickfilming. it’s a very fun hobby, and takes skill and patience. all you need is a decent camera, some LEGO, and patience. the “official” site for brickfilming can be found at brickfilms.com, but the community is more based at ilovebrickfilming.com. There was a change in administration and a bunch of stuff I don’t want or need to get in to that made people switch to ilovbrickfilming.com.
I personally work a 15 FPS (frames per second) which, as you may know, means that i take 15 frames to get a send of animation. it is very tedious. My equipment consists of a new 24″ iMac, a canon HV20, a macbook, a desk lamp and a Bowens TriLite, and a ton of LEGO. I am currently using FInal Cut express on my Macbook for editing, but now that i have the iMac (which i opened literally a few hours ago :)) I will be upgrading to FC pro and all of those other Pro editing Apps Apple has. I use iStopmotion for frame capture.

Indeed, some of my Net friends have done their best to re-create the Chris Pirillo home office experience in LEGO – and they’ve done quite a good job at it. I asked “LegoShark” if he could brickfilm the famous Call for Help bloopers for me… let’s see just how passionate he is. :) The one I’m embedding here had me in stitches:

LEGO Block Building Software

Chris — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:32:31 +0000

LEGO Block Building Software is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When I was a kid, I would get into trouble all the time for trying to build with my LEGO blocks when I was supposed to be sleeping. To this day, I have a box of LEGO blocks, and I still build things with them. Well, you can also do some LEGO construction using your computer!

The official LEGO computer program is called Digital Design. There are currently 763 different LEGO bricks to choose from. Using these, you can design your own projects, then order the pieces you used if you wish to build it at home for real. You can choose from partially built models, or a blank slate to create the design of your dream. There is no obligation to actually order LEGO bricks, so let your imagination wander!

There are a couple of good open-source applications which are LEGO-like, but not endorsed by the company itself. The first one of these is called LDraw. LDraw is an open standard for LEGO CAD programs that allow the user to create virtual LEGO models and scenes. You can use it to document models you have physically built, create building instructions just like LEGO, render 3D photo realistic images of your virtual models and even make animations. The possibilities are endless. Unlike real LEGO bricks where you are limited by the number of parts and colors, in LDraw nothing is impossible.

Second, we have BlockCad for Windows. BlockCAD is a freeware program for building virtual models with Lego-like bricks. You can save your models, or save pictures of them (.bmp, .jpg), even reuse a complete model as a part in another model. Everything can be controlled with the mouse, but it’s also possible to use the keyboard for most of the commands, making ‘routine building’ more effective, and there is a minimum of text involved, to make it easier for kids.

Last but not least, there is the BrickSmith offering for OS X. Bricksmith allows you to create virtual instructions for your Lego creations on your Mac. The magic is based on the LDraw library, a collection of 3D models of Lego building blocks created by enthusiasts from around the world. With Bricksmith, you never have to worry about running out of parts!

So, do you still play with LEGO’s? What do you like to build? Have you used any of these programs… or will you try one out after reading this? Let me know!

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

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Network Tools for Windows

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Get Your Own Web Site

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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